Breakfast Club serving up smiles

New hot meal ministry to being Tuesday, March 27

CHARLEVOIX — One relatively small local Sunday school class has decided to take a stand, and make a difference in people’s lives in Charlevoix County.

When Jan Boss decided to start a new Sunday school class last October she knew it would be special, but could not have foreseen just how that would come to be. The class was called Justice for the Poor and centered around learning more about poverty in America. “We started the six-week class just debating the state of poverty in our area,” Boss said.

By the end of the six weeks, there was a core group of nine who had decided they would do something tangible to improve peoples lives. The group discussed multiple potential plans, and eventually made the decision to start off with a twice-weekly meal, serving the needy families in the area.

“We decided the first step would be to offer a hot breakfast to anyone who will come, and The Breakfast Club was born,” Boss said.

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Working with the head of the Charlevoix Community Food Pantry, Linda Boss, was a big help in the early planning stages, Jan said. Linda, Jan and seven other members of the original Sunday school class have remained and head-up the program. Nate and Joy Klooster, Jill Eakes, June Otis, Valerie Pederson, Leslie Cunningham and Bev Boss make up the rest of the nine.

“All of the members have been wonderful, and the amount of other volunteers as well,” Jan Boss noted.The program is run by Jan Boss, who is the director of spiritual formation for the church, but uses volunteers from all over the area, not exclusively from the church. The group is working to get people involved, as a way of continuing that initial Sunday school class goal of educating others about poverty.

“We have really gotten a good response, and have even booked out our volunteer schedule far into the future,” Boss said.

The Breakfast Club falls under the Safe Haven Ministries of The Community Reformed Church in Charlevoix, but accepts support from local residents and businesses as well. The group currently is well-stocked to begin the meals, but will be developing a working budget and seeking donations in the future.

“Once we’ve had several meals and the word gets out, and things begin to grow, we will be able to get a better idea of what we need,” Boss said.

The first meal will be served from 7:30-9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 27, and will be open to anyone wanting to attend. All of the meals will offer hot food and a well-balanced selection of proteins, fruits, carbohydrates and beverages.

“We will always have hot food, and plan to try to keep it healthy and delicious,” Boss said.The program will continue to offer a hot breakfast at 7:30 a.m. every Tuesday and Friday and will welcome all comers. The dates are designed to complement the lunches served by the Church of God on Wednesday and Thursday each week.

“The Lighthouse Lunches the Church of God does along with our breakfasts give someone in need a potential four meals a week” Boss said. “When we decided to do a meal we looked at what the Church of God was doing and were surprised to see them serving as many as 50 to 60 people per meal.”

The group can feed a similar amount, and eventually plans to be able to feed up to 100 people, should the need be there. They also consider this a first step, with the idea of continuing to work on assisting those in need in Northern Michigan in different ways.

For more information on Breakfast Club program, contact the Community Reformed Church at (231) 547-9482. The church is located at 100 Oak St. in Charlevoix, and also has a website at www.communityreformed.net.